[ QUOTE ]
Wait for I16 and run all your missions on lowest difficulty, set for 8.
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Actually, if you have a friend/second account with a upper-40s character (47 is optimal), have them get a popular farming mission (e.g. The demon farm) while at 47 and don't complete it. When I16 hits, run that, set on the second difficulty (more mobs) set for six or eight--six, I think, prevents bosses from spawning, but eight gives you more mobs. That should maximize your opportunity for purple drops.
Note that the 47/48s in the mission would give substantially less influence; running 50/51s might give enough of an increase in that department to make up for the slowness. I'd have to do some math to check...Gonna go do that now, actually.
Edit: So, I did a very rudimentary test using Jaegers and Possessed Scientists. According to my the numbers I gathered in-game, you have a 33% damage bonus against -3s, but lose ~72.04% influence (from 876 to 245 from a minion). Against -2s, you have a 22% damage bonus and lose ~52.83% influence.
Assuming an equal spread of 47s and 48s, this means you will be killing approximately 27.5% faster, but gaining ~62.435% less raw influence. If the drop rate is 1 in 2000 for purples (might not be, but it is what I'm using) and you can kill 2000 +0s in an hour (I'm not sure how likely this is for a good farming build, but I assume it is very unlikely; I'm using one hour for simplicity's sake), you will average one purple an hour. Killing 47/48s will mean you will, theoretically, kill 2000 minions in about 43.5 minutes. The difference is influence gained would be about one million. Also keep in mind that level 50 recipes are usually worth much more than their 47/48 counterparts.
All-in-all, I think I just wasted my time. I'll probably just stick with 50s for the sake of simplicity and the ability to my lowbies some levels every now and then. If you are *only* looking for purple drops, 47/48s are better, though.
[ QUOTE ]
Wait for I16 and run all your missions on lowest difficulty, set for 8.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, if you have a friend/second account with a upper-40s character (47 is optimal), have them get a popular farming mission (e.g. The demon farm) while at 47 and don't complete it. When I16 hits, run that, set on the second difficulty (more mobs) set for six or eight--six, I think, prevents bosses from spawning, but eight gives you more mobs. That should maximize your opportunity for purple drops.
Note that the 47/48s in the mission would give substantially less influence; running 50/51s might give enough of an increase in that department to make up for the slowness. I'd have to do some math to check...Gonna go do that now, actually.
Edit: So, I did a very rudimentary test using Jaegers and Possessed Scientists. According to my the numbers I gathered in-game, you have a 33% damage bonus against -3s, but lose ~72.04% influence (from 876 to 245 from a minion). Against -2s, you have a 22% damage bonus and lose ~52.83% influence.
Assuming an equal spread of 47s and 48s, this means you will be killing approximately 27.5% faster, but gaining ~62.435% less raw influence. If the drop rate is 1 in 2000 for purples (might not be, but it is what I'm using) and you can kill 2000 +0s in an hour (I'm not sure how likely this is for a good farming build, but I assume it is very unlikely; I'm using one hour for simplicity's sake), you will average one purple an hour. Killing 47/48s will mean you will, theoretically, kill 2000 minions in about 43.5 minutes. The difference is influence gained would be about one million. Also keep in mind that level 50 recipes are usually worth much more than their 47/48 counterparts.
All-in-all, I think I just wasted my time. I'll probably just stick with 50s for the sake of simplicity and the ability to my lowbies some levels every now and then. If you are *only* looking for purple drops, 47/48s are better, though.